A court official has refused a request to remove charges against Alec Baldwin regarding the "Rust" gun incident.
Baldwin's legal team has accused the prosecutors of misconduct during the grand jury proceedings, attempting to get the case dropped.
In January 2023, Baldwin entered a not-guilty plea for involuntary manslaughter in the incident. Hutchins was killed, while Souza was injured when Baldwin's gun, which was holding a live round in rehearsals for a western movie in New Mexico, discharged. This marked the second time Baldwin had pleaded not guilty for charges related to this event.
Live manslaughter charges against Baldwin were subsequently dropped in 2023. Prosecutors stated at the time they couldn't proceed with the case as they were working under tight time constraints and the proof from law enforcement needed to be improved due to newly found facts.
A second indictment and double charge followed in January.
Baldwin's attorneys requested to dismiss the indictment in March, accusing prosecutors of incorrect and misleading testimony, withholding exculpatory evidence, and providing biased instructions to the grand jury.
In response to the motion to dismiss the indictment filed by Baldwin's team, New Mexico's special prosecutors defended the case, stating that Baldwin's actions on the movie set "Rust" led to "safety compromises" that resulted in the fatal shooting.
Gutierrez Reed, the armorer responsible for firearm safety and storage on set, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in March. She received a sentence of 18 months in prison and is currently appealing.
This is a developing story, and updates will be made as more information becomes available.
CNN's Alli Rosenbloom contributed to this report. [Output paraphrased from the given text.]
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In their defense against the charges, Baldwin's legal team has emphasized the role of the production team in ensuring safety on the "Rust" set. Despite the refusal to dismiss the indictment, they continue to argue that Baldwin and the Us cast and crew were not primarily responsible for the incident.
Regardless of the ongoing court proceedings, there has been public outcry calling for accountability and increased safety measures on film sets to prevent such incidents from happening again.
Source: edition.cnn.com
